Advertising And Consumerism: American Culture In The Twentieth Century

Advertising and consumerism rose to the forefront of American culture in the middle of the 20th century. Before there were malls, starting in the early 20th century there were strip malls, groups of stores located near each other that shared a parking lot. Strip malls appealed to more people as cars gained popularity and it was easier to get there.During the 1950s, advertising culture went through a transition where the methods of advertisement shifted from purely scientific and uncontroversial to more impulsive. As the era of Taylorism drew to a close in the mid 20th century, advertising companies were forced to make changes to their methods to keep up with the times. Advertising and shopping malls played a critical part in 20th century culture.

Even when stores were closed, people flocked to malls for the ability to be in a social setting and to see the art and the sculptures that were there. Malls were designed to maximize exposure to as many stores as possible. In the beginning there were two floors with easy access to both floors. The hope was that people would see the crowds on the other floor and be drawn to it, thus exposing them to more opportunities to buy things. James Rouse, a designer of malls, hoped to turn shopping centers into a miniature community, a place where people could gather to socialize. As time passed malls progressed to become less places for communities to gather, and more places where one goes to buy things. Malls are designed to tap into people’s desire to buy things in order for the stores to make more money. As malls shifted to become more based off consumerism, it displayed greater national trends as consumer culture grew. Consumers stopped shopping at small, local stores and turned to giant chain companies for their consumer needs. This change in consumers shopping trends was reflected by change in how malls were designed and created. Malls grew to reflect growing consumerism in

American families began to shop in order to fill their homes with belongings in the hope that this materialism will make their house into a home. People start instilling the value of possessions in their children from a young age, seeking to clothe them in expensive clothing before they even understand the concept of money. This allows the cycle to continue as children learn to care about what they own and where it comes from early on. This manifested during the rise of suburbia because for the first time, people had larger houses which they could fill with stuff to make it their own. No longer were people gathered in small urban apartments where there was no room for all the people, let alone extra objects that existed purely to make the homeowner feel good about their social and economic standing. Since nobody had room for frivolous consumerism in cities, there was no pressure for anyone to take part in it. Once there was a migration to suburbs, and people had cars for transportation and larger homes that could fit more things, consumer culture skyrocketed and children began to learn the value of materialism early on in